Dr. Jack Stamp, Director of the Keystone Wind Ensemble & Director of Band Studies at University of Pennsylvania

In April and May, the Concert Band, Soldiers’ Chorus, America’s Big Band–The Jazz Ambassadors, and The Volunteers recorded several hours of music for upcoming compact disc releases. The Concert Band welcomed Dr. Jack Stamp, a composer, conductor of the Keystone Wind Ensemble, and Director of Band Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania to produce these recordings. During the recording process, he took the time to answer a few of our questions.

Encore!: Dr. Stamp, for decades you’ve been an active conductor, composer, teacher, producer, and adjudicator. What do you regard as your most significant contribution to the band world?
JS: I hope it would be as a teacher. If I’ve had a lasting influence, I would want it to be on the students I’ve taught, and the students they teach. As a teacher, you impact someone individually; through the unique relationships you build, you change things.

Encore!: Here are the titles of some of your compositions: Pastime: A Tribute to Baseball, Four Maryland Songs, Beltway Jam, and your own arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner. Are American themes a deliberate focus of yours?
JS: I think my music sounds American. If you trace it back, you could hear the influence of Copland, David Diamond, Robert Schumann, but the titles grow out of the circumstances in which they were written. Pastime was just because I like baseball. Four Maryland Songs was commissioned by The University of Maryland, and we based the piece on Maryland poetry. Beltway Jam was a tongue-in-cheek thing, written for the Army Band, because anyone who drives in DC knows about the Beltway. I think the music has an American kind of sound.

Encore!: Please talk a little about our recording project. You’ve been producing concert band albums for years. What’s this one been like?
JS: In any recording session, the musicians have to trust the producer to tell them what to do. It was great how much everyone trusted me… the band, of course, but Colonel Palmatier, too. All that aside, the Field Band is always great, people are always friendly. There’s this camaraderie, because everyone wants it to be good.

Encore!: Dr. Stamp, before you go, would you tell the readers at home who has the best band in America?
JS: (laughs) The U.S. Army Field Band.